A variety of golf balls has hitherto been developed. Of these, functional multi-piece solid golf balls having an optimized hardness relationship among a plurality of layers encasing the core, such as an intermediate layer and a cover, are widely used. In addition, three-piece solid golf balls which use as the intermediate layer material a highly neutralized resin material containing an ionomeric resin or a non-ionomeric resin as the base resin and, added thereto, an organic acid or a metal salt thereof and a basic inorganic metal compound capable of neutralizing acid groups, and which have a soft compression, are highly regarded on the market. Examples of such golf balls include the four-piece solid golf ball which uses highly neutralized resin materials in the intermediate layer and the envelope layer that is disclosed in JP-A 2010-253268.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,967,701 and 7,833,112 disclose four-piece solid golf balls in which two of the three layers in the core are made of highly neutralized resin materials. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 7,708,655, JP-A 2001-218872, JP-A 2001-218873, JP-A 2005-211656 and JP-A 2013-220353 describe three-piece solid golf balls or four-piece solid golf balls which use a highly neutralized resin material in the intermediate layer or the envelope layer.
However, none of these patent publications make any mention of a five-piece golf ball having at the interior three layers of highly neutralized resin materials. Moreover, there exists a desire for a further increase in the distance traveled by the golf ball and for further improvement in the feel of the ball at impact.